1977 Australian referendum (Referendums)

The Constitution Alteration (Referendums) 1977 was an Australian referendum held in the 1977 referendums in which electors approved an amendment to the Australian constitution to allow electors in the Australian territories to vote at referendums. Electors in the territories were to be counted towards the national total, but would not be counted toward any state total.

Question

It is proposed to alter the Constitution so as to allow electors in the territories, as well as electors in the states, to vote at referendums on proposed laws to alter the Constitution.

Do you approve the proposed law?

Results
Result [1]
StateOn

rolls

 Ballots

issued

 For Against Invalid
% %
New South Wales3,007,511 2,774,388 2,292,82283.92% 439,247 16.08%42,319
Victoria2,252,831 2,083,136 1,647,18780.78% 391,855 19.22%44,094
Queensland1,241,426 1,138,842 670,82059.58% 455,051 40.42%12,971
South Australia799,243 745,990 606,74383.29% 121,770 16.71%17,477
Western Australia682,291 617,463 437,75172.62% 165,049 27.38%14,663
Tasmania259,081246,063 150,34662.25% 91,184 37.75%4,533
Australian Total8,242,383 7,605,882 5,805,66977.72% 1,664,156 22.28%136,057
Obtained majority in all six States and an overall majority of 4,141,513 votes.
Carried

Discussion

At the time of Federation the very few people who lived in the Northern Territory voted as residents of South Australia. Territorians could therefore vote in constitutional referendums. When the Territory was surrendered to the Commonwealth in 1911, however, its citizens lost the vote in such referendums, due to the absence of reference to Territory voters in s. 128. Residents of the Australian Capital Territory were similarly restricted. In 1967 demonstrations against this restriction occurred in Alice Springs, as Territorians expressed their resentment at not being able to vote in the Aboriginals referendum.

In the 1974 referendum the Whitlam Government attempted to amend s. 128 in a double-pronged proposal. Territorial voting rights in referendums were sought, but the Government also proposed that constitutional amendments could be carried with just half of the States — instead of a majority of States — voting in favour. Only New South Wales supported the proposal, but it is likely that, had the Territories section been a separate question, it would have been ratified.

In 1977 the question of Territory votes was relatively uncontroversial, being carried in every State, gaining a national YES vote of 77.7 per cent, though Queensland (40.4 per cent) and Tasmania (37.8 per cent) had quite large NO votes. It has been claimed that the high vote of approval was a reminder of Australia's honourable record of electoral reform — that the amendment had 'Australian political tradition behind it'.[2] Despite John Paul of the University of New South Wales dismissing the change as the granting of a 'hollow privilege',[3] The Canberra Times stated that people in both Territories should be grateful, 'for the universal acknowledgment that their natural right to vote in future referendums will now be given the force of law'.[4]

References
  1. Handbook of the 44th Parliament (2014) "Part 5 - Referendums and Plebiscites - Referendum results". Parliamentary Library of Australia..
  2. J Holmes & C Sharman (1977). The Australian Federal System. Allen and Unwin. p. 96. cited in S Bennett (2003). "Research Paper no. 11 2002-03 The Politics of Constitutional Amendment".
  3. JB Paul (1983). "Constitutional Amendment Australia's Experience". In R Lucy (ed.). The Pieces of Politics. Macmillan. p. 273. cited in S Bennett (2003). "Research Paper no. 11 2002-03 The Politics of Constitutional Amendment".
  4. "The people speak". The Canberra Times. 23 May 1977. p. 2 – via National Library of Australia.
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